Posts Tagged ‘linkdump’

You’ve probably been playing Monopoly incorrectly your whole life. Basically, Yetis are bears. I’ll bet the same is true for Bigfoot. “The Satanic baby-killers have always been with us, even though they have never actually existed. We reinvent them over and over, adapting the old lies in new forms.” “Trump’s tweets don’t advance a consistent […]

Is this the end of the line for Microsoft Excel? “It should not be possible for anyone observing James Dobson in 2017 to be disappointed, because it should not be possible, in 2017, to have still retained any illusions about Dobson’s morality or honesty.” Kids these days, and the Availability Heuristic. Lots of things the […]

You tell me there’s an inhabitable planet within feasible travelling distance, I’m so there. “So if you’re feeling adventurous, here’s how you can make your very own roast Facehugger“. “Targeted ads that seem to follow you everywhere online may soon be doing the same on your TV.” So, when are people going to start calling […]

“The massive asteroid that slammed into Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs might never have triggered a mass extinction had it struck almost any other part of the planet, scientists claim.” “In a dramatic intellectual turnabout, most archaeologists and other scholars now believe that the earliest Americans followed Pacific Rim shorelines from northeast Asia to […]

“What Happens When A Surrogate Unknowingly Gets Pregnant With Her Own Child At The Same Time She Is Pregnant With Someone Else’s Child?” How to design streets for people in an age of driverless cars. Using optical illusions as traffic-calming devices. Hey, John Schnatter, don’t you wish you’d kept your big mouth shut about the […]

“It is rare for a new animal species to emerge in front of scientists’ eyes. But this seems to be happening in eastern North America”. What if horror movies actually stop crime, not cause it? It was the flu pandemic, and it swept the whole world wide/It caught soldiers and civilians, and they died died […]

And the gold medal in pole dancing goes to… Frank Oz talks Muppets and Little Shop of Horrors. “Over the past 30 years, food companies like Nestlé, Mars, Barry Callebaut, and Hershey’s — among the world’s biggest producers of chocolate — have poured millions of dollars into scientific studies and research grants that support cocoa […]

On “American Pie”, the Book of Revelations, and the perils of deciphering ancient texts. When graphic designers rise up. “Of course, you want as many people to watch your show as possible. But some things are more important than bringing in a big audience. I hope that we, as a nation, get back to a […]

What not to order at a chain restaurant, according to the people who work at them. It’s the end of the world as we know it, though probably not right away. The Babel Fish is coming. It’s decorative gourd season, y’all. “About half of fetuses with serious anomalies won’t be detected until an ultrasound at […]

Pocatello, Idaho no longer has the worst flag in North America. “For for the fourth time since early last year, astronomers announced the detection of gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of space-time created by the powerful collision of two black holes.” “On average, someone gets shot by an American toddler a little more frequently than […]

Sabrina, the Gritty Reboot, next on The CW. “For the first time in over 60 years, Brigham Young University will sell caffeinated soft drinks on campus.” “Artificial Colors are Back in Trix Because Nobody Liked Natural Ingredients”. Equifax sends an email to people affected by their data breach with instructions for how to protect themselves, […]

I guess this means my kids are Generation Z. I can already hear them rolling their eyes. How young is too young to take public transit by yourself? “In a just world, the name of Joseph De Laine would already be familiar to South Carolinians.” Basically, everything about this. Just go read it. “It is […]

How Game of Thrones spoilers happen. Because people want them to happen would be my explanation. “We’re not talking here about anything as puny as political economic power. No, climate is about something far more terrifying it its capacities: Climate change is about planetary power.” What’s really going on with Google Drive. “Why the Equifax […]

“Legal Aid should be a backbone of our social safety net, and limiting that service based on state bar requirements doesn’t seem to be helping anybody.” How does a remake of Lord of the Flies, but with girls instead, grab you? Assuming you didn’t realize that such a work already existed in another form, of […]

Just another day at the movies. No big deal. “Why would you attempt to pull a con on a community made up of hundreds of thousands of Meddling Kids?” The case for Taylor Swift’s new song being about Arya Stark. “Depending on how you’ve set up two-step authentication, however, this may be far from airtight […]

“Three years ago, however, a small German town found a fourth option — you can involuntarily conscript Nazis into anti-Nazism.” “It’s a dramatic story, this epoch-defining tale about automation and permanent unemployment. But it has one major catch: There isn’t actually much evidence that it’s happening.” “With the start of the State Fair of Texas […]

Good. Actions have consequences. “Republican lawmakers in at least 18 states have introduced bills to crack down on protesters. Among those proposals are bills that would allow cities to sue protesters in order to collect money to pay police forces required at demonstrations, increase the potential penalty for nonviolent demonstrations, and increase fines against picketers.” […]

The National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year contest for 2017. Go see gorgeous photos. Donald Trump could have been president in Sharknado 3. Which would have been infinitely preferable to current reality. “Now that the Republican Party has won the House, the Senate and the Presidency the effort it is making to Repeal and […]

A little thought experiment about a shift of power in the Senate. Chase your dreams, y’all. “If you’ve been asking why McCain is getting so much credit for this hit job, rather than his two female Republican colleagues without whose “no” votes the bill would have also passed, one of the answers is that he […]

“There’s no public indication yet what Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort specifically hoped to receive from the Russians. But if they were aware of (and believed) these conspiracy-theory reports regarding the Russians and Clinton’s emails—real-life fake news that had been bolstered by right-wing media and Trump’s own social media guru—they probably would have been particularly […]

Same sex marriage is likely to be safe from future SCOTUS rulings even if Justice Kennedy retires in the next couple of years. I’d rather not test that hypothesis, though. Those hot girls on Twitter who want to follow you? It’s a scam. Don’t fall for it. “I don’t want to have the Bible debates […]

What part of DO NOT TOUCH was unclear to you? Somehow, this is not satire. I got nothing. “This, of course, presents a problem for marketers: How do you sell food to a group of people that American culture has harassed into a near-universally fraught relationship with your products? It turns out the answer is […]

So is there a limit to human lifespans or not? A long and thoughtful story on lip synching and our changing attitudes towards it. I fall into the camp of those who prefer actual singing and playing of instruments by people, but I’m old. The Nuns on the Bus are back on the bus. Sweet […]

“They just stared at me, and at that moment, Tom’s door opened and another girl came out, adjusting her hair and taking off down the hall, while the first girl in line slipped into Tom’s room. This was a young man who knew something about time management and understood how to successfully juggle Bible study […]

“The AHCA would raise employment and economic activity at first, but lower them in the long run. It initially raises the federal deficit when taxes are repealed, leading to 864,000 more jobs in 2018. In later years, reductions in support for health insurance cause negative economic effects. By 2026, 924,000 jobs would be lost, gross […]

Yet another thing Donald Trump has ruined for us. If Kansas was an experiment to see if “conservative” policies would work, it was a massive failure. I mean, a really massive failure. Maybe we should pay attention to that. What Scalzi says about Coke Zero, though I will drink Diet Coke if that’s what is […]

“There may come a day when you will have to be The Advocate for someone you love. Do not do it under duress because that just creates more problems. Do not do it because you think it will somehow get you in the will because it may not. Do it because you love that person […]

“The Las Vegas stadium is the new champion when it comes to extracting public largesse for private benefit, a distinguished title lineage that includes the Vikings’ new stadium, which was supposed to be paid for with electronic gambling that raised precisely zero dollars in its first year, or $35M less than expected; the new Braves’ […]

“Two big reasons Trump will have a tough time pushing the special counsel around”. “The growing frustration with the Trump administration’s management — reflected in letters to state regulators and in interviews with more than two dozen senior industry and government officials nationwide — undercuts a key White House claim that Obamacare insurance marketplaces are […]

Meet Zuul crurivastator, the first dinosaur to be named after a “Ghostbusters” character. Why don’t women’s basketball fans follow their favorite players from college to the pros? “How Unprecedented Is James Comey’s Firing?” “The possibility that a lawyer’s small compromise of principle may put him on a steep slippery slope to a much larger personal […]

Naming and billboard-shaming the Congressfolk who sold off your Internet privacy. I’m probably “Structure Neutral, Ingredient Purist” on the Sandwich Alignment Chart, but I’m still thinking about it. We’re in no danger of running out of Game of Thrones content just yet. “How can you tell phony drawings from real ones? There’s no easy way […]

Six questions on Ivanka Trump’s new investment fund. “Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was warned by the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 against accepting foreign payments as he entered retirement, according to new documents obtained by the House oversight committee.” Shoulda listened. “Don’t let those failures lull you into a false sense of security. […]

Other Congressional districts that could be as competitive as the 6th District in Georgia was. The evolution of the TV mom. From the archives, how to deal with a psychopath. (Spoiler: If at all possible, don’t.) “It’s hard to call these meetings political, at least in the narrow sense of partisan politics (save, perhaps, for […]